TWO 


ERAL  CASTRO 


PRESIDENT  OF  VENEZUELA 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


Class  Book  Volume 

,3  <51  Cll-t 


Ja  09-20M 


(Hu  tljc 


2f0tt.  lifrbrrt  U.  Snlunt. 


yreaentiny  to  ymt  tlje  tranalatinn  nf  turn  nf  tlje 
nutat  ttntable  yublir  bnrumenta,  yrnbureb  by  nnr 
patrinl  Preaibent,  31  beg  tn  arknmulebye  tl|r  integrity 
attb  ljuueaty  nf  your  rljararler,  uiljett  in  tlje  attark  nf 
“ tljree  $Jnutera  ” agaittat  Benezurla,  leb  gnn  tn  atanb 
by  tlje  aibe  nf  tlje  riglftenuanraa,  anb  luntt  fnr  tlje 
rauae  nf  “ Juatire tbe  rnnat  enuiable  laurel  in  ymtr 
biylnmatiral  rarm*. 

flleaae  arrej.it  nty  inarm  abntiratinn  anb  ainrere 
eateern. 

tReayerlfully, 


Pedro  Rafael  Rincones, 

(Gnttaul  (general  nf  Hene^nela. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/twonotablepublicOOcast 


GENERAL  CIPRIANO  CASTRO, 
Constitutional  President  of  Venezuela. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


" ?Ort  itH  Ijahr  faltt?  that  rigljt  makra  mtgijt 
anh  in  that  faitty  let  ua  harr  to  ho  our  huttj.” 


LINCOLN 


ADDRESS 


OF 

GENERAL  CIPRIANO  CASTRO 

CONSTITUTIONAL  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 
TO  THE  VENEZUELANS 


ON  JUDY  FIFTH,  NINETEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THREE 


LET  us  stop  and  vfonder  while  delivering  this  patriotic  oration  on 
^ the  anniversary  of  this  memorable  and  solemn  day,  the  birth- 
day of  our  Venezuelan  home,  independent  and  free. 

Seen  from  this  distance  of  time,  at  a period  when  austere  and 
forceful  civil  virtue  is  so  rarely  met  with,  the  men  who  inaugurated 
and  directed  the  revolutionary  movement  of  1811  appear  indeed  of 
more  than  ordinary  estate. 

In  contemplating  and  studying  them  and  their  work  after  this 
lapse  of  years,  they  appear  to  grow  and  increase  in  size  and  assume 
clearer  outlines,  not  unlike  the  projections  of  the  mountains  at  twi- 
light and  as  the  light  of  the  new  day  that  rises  above  the  line  of  the 
horizon. 

They  all  were  endowed  with  the  qualities  called  for  by  the 
exigencies  of  their  times. 

The  ideas  of  liberty  that  at  this  period  impregnated  the  minds 
of  the  people,  like  the  generating  pollen  on  wings  of  revolutions  to 
frudlify  this  globe,  germinated  in  the  souls  of  these  men  like  the 
seed  sown  in  deep  and  wide  furrows.  Creative  and  resourceful  men, 
who,  notwithstanding  the  adverse  surroundings  and  the  reigning 
prejudices,  gallantly  entered  the  arena  to  battle  for  freedom,  and  at 
once  astonished  the  w7orld  by  their  Olympic  audacity. 

lyike  God  to  the  ocean,  they  dared  to  say  to  the  ever  proud, 
overbearing  and  incroaching  tide  of  medieval  invasion  : “ Here 

shall  be  stayed  their  proud  billows.”  And  stayed  they  were,  be- 
cause these  men  built  the  levees  against  which  the  tendencies  of 
historical  absolutism  vainly  dashed  their  forces.  The}7  formed 
among  the  people  alliances  based  upon  liberty,  and  in  order  to  make 


5 


them  strong  against  all  contingencies  they  cemented  them  with  im- 
mense sacrifices  in  blood  and  treasure,  coupled  with  the  highest  efforts 
of  body  and  mind. 

Oh,  yes,  that  work  of  founding  a nation  must  have  been,  in  most 
respecfts,  strong  and  enduring,  when  in  spite  of  attack  from  within 
and  without  for  three  quarters  of  a century,  it  subsists  at  this  day, 
although  weak  and  feverish  from  excessive  loss  of  blood,  still  always 
strong  in  spirit,  with  noble  instincts,  generous  sentiments,  and  en- 
tirely in  accord  with  its  history  and  destiny. 

We  have  erred  so  much,  so  much,  that  at  times  the  reflective 
mind  is  almost  persuaded  to  believe  that  we  might  be  a people  fatally 
condemned  to  the  most  painful  experiences  and  trials  on  the  road  to 
civilization,  for  even  in  the  very  school  of  our  own  misfortunes,  we 
learn  so  very,  very  slowly  the  ways  of  practical  and  normal  living 
that  is  to  say,  the  ideas  of  orderly,  peaceful  development  under  the 
auspices  of  liberty. 

Our  society  delivered  from  the  foreign  yoke,  but  irredeemed 
from  its  own  vices,  falls  and  rises  by  turns,  as  if  it  obstinately  re- 
fused to  change  in  the  least  its  own  chara&er  and  habits,  and  could 
not  listen  to  good  counsels  and  sound  advice,  unless  it  were  clothed 
in  the  glare  of  conflagrations  or  in  the  distant  rumblings  of  threatened 
catastrophes.  But,  perhaps,  may  not  the  deep  impressions  created 
by  the  recent  happenings  be  sufficient  to  correct  these,  the  most 
potent  causes  of  the  convulsive  instability  of  its  institutions  and  its 
governments?  Will  it  at  last  learn  the  objeCt  lesson,  so  full  of  un- 
foreseen disaster,  the  fruits  of  fickle  quackery,  supported  by  the 
most  unbridled  passions  ? May  it  please  God,  that  so  it  be  ! 

This  is  the  day,  above  all  others,  on  which  to  make  solemn 
vows  to  the  sacred  memory  of  the  noble  founders  of  our  Nationality. 
Let  us  make  at  least  one,  but  let  it  be  fervent,  sincere  and  irrevocable. 

Let  us  all  promise  without  partisanship,  without  mental  reser- 
vation of  any  kind  of  intolerance  and  hatred,  to  live  from  this  day, 
possessed  with  the  constantly  growing  purpose  before  us,  to  mend 
our  ways,  or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  never  again  to  dis- 
embowel our  country  with^/words  and  bayonets,  but  rather  to  protect 
it  with  our  bodies,  defend  it  with  our  arms,  and  to  make  it  great 
and  happy  by  our  efforts  in  the  field  of  labor,  which  latter  is  the 
highest  form  of  patriotism.  Now  to-day  is  the  time,  to-morrow  it 
may  be  too  late  ! 

To  again  expose  ourselves  to  a crisis  such  as  we  have  just 
passed  through,  would  be  almost  equal  to  abandon  our  glorious 


6 


banner  and  that  grand  patrimony  bequeathed  to  us  by  Miranda  the 
Martyr,  Bolivar  the  Great,  and  their  noble  co-workers  in  the 
struggle  for  our  redemption. 

Let  us  proclaim  from  every  rostrum,  and  continue  to  send  to  our 
people  in  the  furthermost  ends  of  the  Republic,  words  of  cheer  and 
encouragement,  that  they  may  arise  from  the  terrible  trials  and 
sufferings  to  which  they  have  so  long  been  subjected. 

Let  us  resolve  once  and  a thousand  times  before  the  sacred  altar 
of  our  common  country,  that  we  will  abandon  for  once  and  all  the 
path  of  error,  not  as  conquered,  but  as  convinced,  in  order  to  pursue, 
without  flinching,  the  road  that  is  pointed  out  to  us  by  honor  and 
duty,  and  let  us,  at  last,  bury  forever  those  passions  that  lead  to  and 
end  only  in  anarchy. 

Thus  shall  we  become  strong  and  respedted  and  be  enabled  to 
give  force  to  the  outcome  of  that  peace,  which  to  attain  has  cost  us 
so  much,  and  thus  being  freed  from  internal  obstacles  and  danger,  we 
shall  be  able  to  diredl  all  our  efforts  to  the  end  of  making  of  this 
country  the  respedted  and  loved  home  of  a worthy,  industrious  and 
intelligent  people,  that  for  its  sturdy  virtues  will  recommend  itself 
to  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  whose  moral  worth  will,  make  up 
for  the  deficiencies  of  its  material  resources.  Venezuela  is  in 
evidence  before  itself  and  before  the  world.  It  is  observed  and 
watched  in  these  days  of  expansion  and  conquests.  The  fertility  of 
our  soil,  the  abundance  of  our  natural  resources,  form  incentives  for 
the  avaricious  tendencies  of  other  nations. 

Venezuelans  : — The  truth  must  be  told,  though  it  may  hurt 
and  pain,  or  rather  in  order  that  it  causes  intense  pain,  like  strong 
caustic,  and  thereby  brings  forth  healthful  results. 

Venezuelans  are  unfortunately  those  whom  we  must  charge  as 
being  the  authors  of  all  our  misfortunes,  and  Venezuelans  must  be 
those  who  shall  raise  above  all  the  symbol  of  our  national  salvation, 
from  our  errors  and  misdeeds. 

Under  the  palladium  of  this  solemn  pilgrimage,  I,  with  all  her 
sons,  will  go  to  our  beloved  country,  knowing  that  it,  like  a loving 
mother,  will  forgive  even  those  of  her  children  who  have  not  known 
how  to  love  and  defend  her  in  the  days  of  tribulation.  To-day  it  is 
just  one  year  since  I,  with  expressions  of  the  most  intense  patri- 
otism, declared  myself  as  being  in  the  field  to  stamp  out  anarchism 
and  to  restore  constitutional  order,  and  here  I am,  returned  and 
bringing  you  that  which  then  I could  but  promise.  There  can  still* 
be  heard  the  echo  of  the  words  with  which  a year  ago  I greeted  the 


7 


dawn  of  this  glorious  day,  and  announced  to  the  country  that  the 
requirements  of  solemn  duty  and  political  necessity  had  again  forced 
the  sword  into  my  hands,  and  had  called  me  with  irresistible  force 
to  the  field  of  battle,  demanding  a striking  demonstration  of  the  faCt 
that  the  right  is  powerful  and  always  will  prevail,  when  it  has  for 
standard  bearers,  men  in  whom  honor  is  combined  with  force  of 
character  and  is  backed  by  strong  convictions. 

And  what  I then  promised  is  now  fulfilled  and  completed  with 
evident  exactness. 

Thus  it  was  that,  in  a short  campaign,  success  was  chained  to  our 
chariot  of  victory  in  the  very  hotbed  of  rebellion,  and  thus  I was 
enabled,  through  the  heroism  of  my  men  and  the  constancy  of  for- 
tune, to  draw  from  the  very  heat  of  battle  the  peace  necessary  for 
our  national  existence,  the  guarantees  for  our  citizenship,  to  give 
stability  to  progress,  prestige  to  our  institutions,  and  thus  purified 
in  the  crucible  of  sacrifice  and  suffering,  bring  forth  those  elements 
that  are  needed  for  the  political  and  social  restoration  of  Venezuela. 

The  impetuous  avalanche  of  human  beings  and  of  events  was, 
in  hundred  days  of  battling,  reduced  to  an  informal  mass,  stricken 
with  fear  and  scattered  in  all  directions.  The  grave  foreign  com- 
plications that  overtook  us  at  the  time  of  our  internal  conflict  could 
not  have  been  foreseen  on  the  day  when  we  marched  to  battle,  but 
the  general  results,  properly  viewed  and  appreciated,  have  really  ex- 
ceeded the  promises  then  made,  notwithstanding  that  they  were  then 
looked  upon  as  the  blatant  vaporings  of  a beaten  blusterer,  who  had 
bent  his  footsteps  toward  inevitable  disaster. 

These  prodigious  achievements  have  not  made  me  vainglorious, 
nor  has  the  height  to  which  I have  been  raised  by  the  heroic  deeds 
of  the  constitutional  army  in  the  internal  conflict,  and  the  prudence 
and  patriotism  of  our  people  in  the  foreign  contest,  caused  any 
dizziness  to  my  head.  I aspire  rather  to  base  my  pride  upon  the 
good  use  we  may  make  of  these  victories,  in  the  work  of  wise  ad- 
ministration, and  of  the  progress  in  the  unification  and  elevation  of 
our  people,  and  in  the  battles  that  we  shall  have  to  fight  in  the  field  of 
labor,  of  civilizations,  of  the  sciences  and  of  the  arts.  We  have  for 
these  undertakings  the  stimulant  and  first  necessity  of  life,  which  is 
that  Peace,  that  will  be  veryshortly  officially  declared.  This  peace 
is  not  merely  the  trace  following  a cruel,  bloody  struggle,  but  the 
definite  and  logical  outcome  of  a long  war  ; the  end  of  which  will 
also,  grant  God,  terminate  our  public  calamities  and  open  wide  to  11s 
the  horizon  of  our  national  aspirations.  This  peace  is  the  conscien- 


8 


tious  desire  of  all,  and,  therefore,  it  should  be  lasting  and  fruitful, 
permitting  us  to  realize  unflinchingly  the  programme  of  the  cause 
of  Liberal  restoration. 

Fellow  Patriots  : — Let  us,  on  this  glorious  day,  remember  with 
gratitude  those  who,  although  not  of  our  kindred,  have  addressed  to 
us  during  our  dreadful  afflictions,  words  of  cheer,  and  given  us 
tokens  of  affeCtiou  and  sympathy,  and  let  us  swear  by  the  blood  so 
freely  shed  to  seal  the  Independence  of  Colombia  on  that  memorable 
field,  which,  as  a wonder  of  the  national  art,  serves  us  at  the  same 
time  as  canopy  and  horizon  during  this  aCt.* 

Let  us  swear  to  prove  ourselves  worthy  of  that  glorious  sacrifice 
by  constantly  practicing  those  virtues  which  it  served  to  improve. 

(Signed)  Cipriano  Castro. 

Caracas,  July  5th,  1903. 


*He  refers  to  very  good  pictures  of  the  war  of  independence  that  are  on  the  inner 
ceiling  of  the  Capitol,  representing  the  great  battles  of  Carabobo,  Boyaca,  Junin  and  Ayacucho, 
that  were  the  ends  of  war  with  Spain,  sealing  the  independence  of  the  Great  Colombia,  which 
comprised  Venezuela,  Nueva  Granada  and  Ecuador.  Also  of  Perti  and  Bolivia. 


9 


ADDRESS 


OF 


GENERAL  CIPRIANO  CASTRO 


CONSTITUTIONAL  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 
TO  THE  VENEZUELANS 

ON  JANUARY  FIRST,  NINETEEN  HUNDRED  AND  FOUR 


ELLOW  Citizens  : — My  vows  of  to-day  for  your  happiness  are 


so  fervent  that  I may  hardly  succeed  in  formulating  them  : 
My  heart  is  full  in  this  moment  only  with  them,  and  they  could 
scarcely  be  translated  but  in  a salutation  or  prayer  to  the  Deity,  who 
protects  the  great  peoples  — the  peoples  that  regenerate  and  save 
themselves  by  sacrifices  and  self-denial. 

Receive  and  accept  these  vows  as  an  homage  to  your  nobility, 
as  an  innermost  offering  to  the  majesty  of  the  Republic,  as  a testi- 
mony of  profound  gratitude  for  the  immense  amount  of  honors  I 
owe  to  your  confidence. 

Fellow  Citizens  : — The  year  that  begins  to-day  will  be  one  of 
the  most  fruitful  and  transcendental  in  the  civil  history  of  Venezue- 
lans — it  will  be  as  the  first  triumphal  arch  of  our  organized  and 
flourishing  democracy. 

From  the  night  of  grief  and  trial  that  has  just  passed  away,  the 
national  soul  comes  forth,  radiant  and  full  of  experience  as  an  in- 
effable Eucharist  of  patriotism.  Those  dreadful  and  protracted 
hours,  fatally  necessary,  perhaps  to  the  chief  design  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, will  remain  marked  out  with  red  rings  in  our  republican 
calendar  as  a warning  in  all  times  to  the  governments  and  the 
parties  that  there  is  nothing  so  disgraceful  and  so  ravenous  as  the 
headlong  fratricidal  rancour,  and  that  in  the  struggles  supported  by 
this  rancour,  the  people  gamble  or  endanger  not  only  their  well- 
being and  credit,  but  even  their  existence,  which  for  us  was  the  price 
of  great  efforts  and  sublime  immolations. 


1 1 


Something  untangible,  but  noble  and  wise,  as  the  Deity  that  in- 
flamed the  soul  of  Bolivar,  whispers  in  my  ear  that  we  have  doubled, 
perhaps  forever,  the  hateful  cape  of  the  domestic  tempests.  And  in 
fact,  it  seems  impossible,  rationally  impossible,  that  a nation,  illus- 
trious for  its  element  of  blood,  renowned  for  its  heroism,  great  for 
its  virtues  and  envied  for  its  riches,  may  relapse  still  in  its  turbulent 
madness  of  three  quarters  of  a century  — madness  of  tumultuous 
crowTds  and  mutiny,  that  in  Athens  and  Rome,  as  here  and  every- 
where, has  never  given  but  fruits  of  catastrophe  — dreadful  germina- 
tion of  the  greatest  misfortunes. 

The  visible  .signs  of  the  present  situation,  valued  from  a serene 
and  ample  point  of  view,  agree  together  in  proving  that  the  country, 
reacting  upon  itself  with  wise  and  prudent  concurrence  of  opinion, 
adopts  lastly  the  means  of  securing  a positive  liberty,  derived  from 
order  and  tolerance  and  the  desired  well-being,  by  virtue  of  the 
fecundation  of  peace  by  labor. 

It  is  evident  to  me,  considering  the  present  state  of  the  public 
opinion,  that  the  peace  conquered  in  four  years  of  bloody  fight  is 
not  nowr  a truce  that  the  interests  in  conflict  give  to  each  other,  but 
a compact  of  everlasting  alliance  between  all  the  great  factors  of  the 
national  democracy,  to  liquidate  at  once  before  History  the  mourn- 
ful accounts  of  common  blunders  and  mistakes,  and  to  open  others 
with  the  future,  in  a great  book  of  gradual  and  intelligent  civiliza- 
tion, able  to  be  practically  adapted  to  the  native  ways  and  the  high 
ends  of  social  economy. 

The  factions  have  not  already  action  of  their  own,  not  even 
peculiar  physiognomy.  Some  subdued,  others  convinced,  all  of  them 
are  incorporated  almost  completely  with  the  great  restorer  Nucleus, 
to  constitute  the  formidable  unit  that  henceforth  will  answer  before 
natives  and  foreigners  of  the  fate  of  the  Republic.  That  nucleus  is 
the  nebulous  of  a superb  condensation  of  liberal  and  democratic 
Venezuela. 

Yes,  fellow  citizens  ! we  are  in  full  exercise  of  our  reflective 
faculties.  We  try  strenuously  to  give  unity  to  the  public  spirit,  so 
that  the  common  patriotic  efforts  may  have  the  greatest  effectiveness, 
and  this  is  a conclusive  proof  of  practical  wisdom,  because  unity  is 
the  first  scientific  basis  of  all  associations.  We  renounce  to  the  old 
factious  conventions  to  belong  to  the  new  vigorous  communion 
which,  from  the  borders  of  the  Tachira  to  that  of  the  Orinoco,  has 
irrigated  in  immense  furrow  the  beneficent  seed  of  the  restorer 
ideal  ; and  this  is  a testimony  of  profound  good  sense,  because  men 


and  parties  and  even  the  same  ideas,  are  by  an  evident  historical 
law  more  or  less  accidental  elements  of  a given  time,  and  fall  will- 
ingly or  by  force,  under  the  vital  principle  of  incessant  transforma- 
tion that  rules  in  all  the  spheres  of  the  universe. 

Immediate  product  of  this  laudable  concurrence  of  the  country 
with  its  primordiate  needs,  is  the  great  plebiscite  of  corporations  and 
citizens  that  has  proclaimed  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the 
national  territory,  the  urgent  convenience  of  the  constitutional  re- 
forms, to  correct  certain  grave  anomalies  occasioned  by  the  war,  and 
to  adjust  the  fundamental  basis  of  the  Union  and  the  organic  prin- 
ciples of  the  public  powers,  according  to  what  the  same  institutions 
have  demonstrated  in  their  application. 

The  inopportune  political  idealism  of  our  ruling  classes  has 
caused  the  loss  in  barren  trials  of  a precious  time,  that  we  will  only 
make  up  bringing  to  the  body  of  the  native  institutions  elements,  of 
comprobated  analogy  with  our  character,  and  organic  rules  that  may 
fill  up  with  energetic  wisdom  our  lack  of  sufficient  preparation  for 
the  free  development  of  the  Republic. 

I have  been  present  in  the  impetuous  overflow  of  the  reformist 
currents  as  anxious  spectator,  because  the  duties  of  the  Magistracy 
prevent  my  activity  in  this  field,  and  I would  like  to  have  been  able 
to  support  it  freely  with  all  my  vigor.  Eet  this  confession  be  par- 
doned to  me,  as  pledge  of  genial  republican  frankness,  confession 
that  wrests  from  me  the  vehement  desire  of  seeing  consecrated  in 
everlasting  Codes  and  laws  the  principles  that  nourished  my  soul  in 
the  exile,  that  furnished  me  with  arms  on  the  23rd  day  of  May,  1899, 
and  that  afterwards  have  always  been  my  guide  and  even  my  shield 
in  all  the  peripetias  of  the  Revohition  Liberal  Reslauradora , with  an 
efficiency  visible  to  all,  because  this  Revolution  has  conquered  all  its 
adversaries,  because  under  its  flag  our  country  has  been  saved  of 
black  conspirators,  and  because  in  its  provident  bosom  there  is  only 
love  for  the  Venezuelan  family. 

Eet  it  be  also  well  understood  that  my  agreement  wTith  the  re- 
formist idea  is  above  all  those  foul  dealings  which  in  similar  cases 
have  put  in  danger  the  internal  security  of  the  State. 

There  is  not  a single  motive  to  suppose  that  I am  capable  of 
extravagant  ambitions,  or  that  I belong  to  that  class  of  individuals 
who  affedt  to  surrender  to  certain  insinuations  of  perfidious  con- 
ventionalism. Even  if  I had  not  come  in  the  high  position  I occupy 
by  the  uprightness  of  my  behavior  and  the  strength  of  my  arms,  I 
would  never  turn  my  mind  to  suggestions  unfriendly  to  liberty. 

13 


It  is  enough  the  power  that  the  people  have  given  to  me,  and 
my  character  of  leader  of  the  most  beautiful  and  certainly  the  most 
beneficent  revolution  that  the  modern  annals  of  Venezuelan  record. 
With  this  character  and  this  power,  I have  tried  and  will  go  on  try- 
ing to  obtain  for  my  country  the  greatest  amount  of  benefit,  and 
when  the  hour  to  surrender  then  comes,  there  will  be  no  man  and 
no  party  who  will  be  able  to  say  that  I served  them  or  they  served 
me  as  an  instrument  for  something  unworthy  of  the  honor  of  the 
Republic. 

Venezuelans : — After  some  days  you  will  be  in  possession  of 
the  propitious,  constitutional  and  judicial  elements  that  you  ask  with 
such  high  reasons  as  a sovereign  and  progressive  entity.  Then  and 
until  considerable  time  after,  it  is  probable  that  we  will  have  no 
questions  nor  political  problems  that  will  embarrass  or  preoccupy 
us  ; above  all,  because  when  the  Association  works  with  guarantees 
and  the  Government  administrators  with  honesty  and  intelligence, 
there  cannot  be  between  the  one  and  the  other  but  sympathetic  cur- 
rents, and  this,  in  my  opinion,  constitutes  a state  of  things  able  to 
satisfy  the  most  pressing  aspirations  of  liberty  and  expansion  — of 
ample  liberation,  in  short. 

Besides,  the  Liberal  Restoration,  definitely  organized  and  con- 
stituted, will  be  as  a great  church,  always  open  to  the  communion  of 
the  modern  national  spirit  by  the  imminence  of  the  democratic  prin- 
ciples in  the  brilliant  eternity  of  the  beloved  country.  The  creed  of 
the  citizens  in  that  church  will  be  a permanent  protest  against  the 
factious  pugilism  and  the  readlionary  madness,  and  there  will  be  no 
Venezuelan  that  will  not  swear  with  noble  faith  in  the  altars,  eternal 
love  to  fraternity  and  to  union. 

In  this  way,  free  of  incandescent  passionate  political  controv- 
ersies, affirmed  the  peace  in  the  public  conscience,  maintained  order 
as  a precious  necessity  to  the  individual  and  collective  interests,  the 
most  fruitful  initiative  in  the  sphere  of  the  administration  and  in  the 
field  of  business  will  necessarily  come,  until  our  economic  level  will 
be  raised,  and  we  will  have  sufficient  representation  in  the  markets 
of  the  world.  This  is  the  desideratum  of  the  country  in  this  solemn 
epoch,  undoubtedly  because,  besides  the  elemental  current  reasons 
that  make  good  its  criterion  in  this  particular,  its  recent  history 
teaches  that  if  some  of  our  good  liberal  governments  would  not  have 
withdrawn  from  the  activity  of  the  administration  and  the  improve- 
ment of  public  works  to  rush  into  imprudent  political  adventures, 
we  would  have  to-day  nothing  to  envy  to  the  most  advanced  peoples 
of  the  Continent. 


4 


We  are  rich  and  laborious  ; two  oceans  offer  us  extensive  routes 
to  bring  and  to  carry  all  that  we  produce  and  need,  and  the  idle 
capital  in  other  zones  wishes  anxiously  to  come  and  thrive  in  our 
soil.  We  only  want  to  be  sufficiently  discreet  and  judicious  to  secure 
confidence  — mother  of  credit  — and  to  exploit  our  riches  with 
practical  and  methodical  criterion. 

If  to  obtain  this  you  need  still  some  new  sacrifice,  you  can  dis- 
pose of  me  and  of  what  I am  worth.  No  greater  glory  to  a man  than 
to  have  contributed  to  his  country’s  civilization  with  all  that  he 
received  from  her  and  from  God,  who  helps  and  protects  her. 

Fellow  Citizens  : — In  the  name  of  the  Liberal  Restoration  and 
of  my  loyal  forebodings,  I augur  you  that  this  year  will  be  the  first 
of  a series  of  peaceful  lustrums,  during  which  the  Republic  will  raise 
to  great  culture  and  progress. 

Caracas,  January  i,  1904. 


•5 


